Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Open Water

The sound of rushing water is my background music right now. The ground is releasing its winter moisture, and every gully and depression is full and flowing, though it hasn’t rained in days. The sound of rushing water nearly overpowers the song of spring peepers in the evening and the soft call of the great horned owl in the early morning hours. It’s a gentle constant. For now.

Tomorrow April reasserts its variable self and will bring me rain and thunderstorms. The sound of rushing water will likely turn into a gush of water, only to be followed once more by winter’s silence. After—or perhaps during--the storms, the temperature will drop, snow might reappear but colder temperatures and ice certainly will reappear for another week or so.

The change of seasons never progresses slowly or even continuously. Seasons change in fits and starts—the old season fighting with the new for dominance, but the new season always wins, eventually.

About Me

I live in a cabin in the forests of Pennsylvania. I write about what I see and do in the natural world around me. I've been a hawkwatcher for more than 20 years, a birder for longer than that, and a crayfish-catcher since I was a polywog.